1) Hyvää syntymäpäivää; 2) Tiina menee naimisiin; 3) Vuosisadan rakkaustarina; 4) Leijailen; 5) Elämä vie mua; 6) Ludwig Van Beethoven; 7) Jos sä rakastat minua; 8) Kolme sanaa sinulle; 9) Matti Inkinen; 10) Sadan vuoden yksinäisyys; 11) Älä sinä huoli; 12) Jos taivas on vain pienille enkeleille; 13) Viipuripop; 14) Lauantaina; 15) Kartsaa; 16) Kerro mitä on rakkaus; 17) Marianne; 18) Purppura
18-hit budget compilation from a band who had about three that have survived the age of time.
Back when car CD players were a new thing, my dad got into the habit of buying all kinds of CDs from mid-price sections and bargain buckets - often budget "best of" compilations - to play during driving. I lived in a small town so none of our shared journeys would ever take more than 3-4 songs, and in the occasional case where we'd exceed that my dad demonstrated his very liberal use of the skip button. I've thus ended up with particularly strong memories associated with a very small handful of songs from a number of all kinds of acts from the 70s and 80s.
SIG were a Finnish example of the typical path a lot of groups took around the 80s, starting out early in the decade with a more punk-oriented sound, but soon shaping into a more of a new-wave act and getting a couple of hits out of it. Those hits are the first three songs on this compilation and they're the best it has to offer. They're the kind of Big Pop Classics that will always get airplay and stay evergreen - partially because SIG were cunning enough to have them centered around particular themes that would ensure their inclusion in any themed compilations for decades to come (birthdays, weddings and head-over-heels romance perfect for Valentine's, respectively). They're corny, a bit dated and somewhat ramshackle but that's part of their charm, and they're completely fluffy but sometimes you don't need anything else but a good hook.
I have no recollection whatsoever about the rest of the compilation, and given the songs are mostly just inferior copies of the first three songs there's not much need to go beyond those initial moments either. There's also a couple of attempts at ballads (forgettable) and a few inexplicable stabs at rockabilly (godawful), further highlighting how preposterous the "18 hits" claim in the title is. SIG aren't a classic band or anything that really needs any relevance beyond their minor part of collective Finnish pop culture consciousness, and it's clear which songs are the reason this compilation is a thing in the first place. Me owning this copy (which is the very same disc my dad used to play) is solely because of faint nostalgic reasons and it's fun to know that even though our music tastes are worlds apart, we'd both go on a skip spree with this one.
SIG were a Finnish example of the typical path a lot of groups took around the 80s, starting out early in the decade with a more punk-oriented sound, but soon shaping into a more of a new-wave act and getting a couple of hits out of it. Those hits are the first three songs on this compilation and they're the best it has to offer. They're the kind of Big Pop Classics that will always get airplay and stay evergreen - partially because SIG were cunning enough to have them centered around particular themes that would ensure their inclusion in any themed compilations for decades to come (birthdays, weddings and head-over-heels romance perfect for Valentine's, respectively). They're corny, a bit dated and somewhat ramshackle but that's part of their charm, and they're completely fluffy but sometimes you don't need anything else but a good hook.
I have no recollection whatsoever about the rest of the compilation, and given the songs are mostly just inferior copies of the first three songs there's not much need to go beyond those initial moments either. There's also a couple of attempts at ballads (forgettable) and a few inexplicable stabs at rockabilly (godawful), further highlighting how preposterous the "18 hits" claim in the title is. SIG aren't a classic band or anything that really needs any relevance beyond their minor part of collective Finnish pop culture consciousness, and it's clear which songs are the reason this compilation is a thing in the first place. Me owning this copy (which is the very same disc my dad used to play) is solely because of faint nostalgic reasons and it's fun to know that even though our music tastes are worlds apart, we'd both go on a skip spree with this one.
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